Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (Cesu)

The summary for the Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (Cesu) grant is detailed below.
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Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit (Cesu): The U.S. Geological Surveys National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Program is accepting proposals to fund a 3 year project that will help continue to provide science delivery and technology transfer for the wildland fire and natural resource communities, their partners, other stakeholders, and the public. The NBII program provides the nation with a mechanism for accessing the vast amount of existing biological and natural resources data, information products, and analytical tools that support and enhance science-based decision-making. Using enterprise portal technology, the NBII provides a framework for making these data and information accessible. The Fire Research and Management Exchange System (FRAMES) project provides informational and technological resources about one of the most significant forces that shape biological communities - wildland fire. FRAMES develops and adapts NBII-sponsored technology to integrate, standardize, and provide easy access to the immense quantity of wildland fire and fuels and natural resources information resources and tools. Previous information systems, developed to meet individual project needs, have resulted in non-standardized data, vocabularies, database structures, and access and visualization tools. This lack of standardization is problematic when trying to integrate complex datasets for policy makers. The goal of FRAMES is to make these data and information easy to find, access, distribute, compare, and use. Proposals should consider the following goals: . Coordinating infrastructure development . Identifying and engaging new partners . Incorporating new content including the following resource types: data, documents, tools, web pages, projects, and programs . Providing marketing and outreach support to the fire and natural resources communities . Developing business rules and best practices for FRAMES portal development . Supporting the USGS NBII program

This financial assistance opportunity is being issued under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) Program. CESUs are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education Applicants under this announcement must be from a University that qualifies as part of the CESU program. For a list of current CESU agreements, see http://www.cesu.org.